Canadian lawmakers resurrect McCarthy in hearings that say criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism

Canada is the latest front in the battle between critics of Israel and those who would smear them as anti-Semites. The video below is from Independent Jewish Voices. An article by Jillian Kestler-D’Amours follows.

The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) held an international Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism in Ottawa from Nov. 7-9, in what for many not only signals Canada’s increasingly pro-Israel policy, but demonstrates the dangerous worldwide trend of equating legitimate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

“The CPCCA’s goal is to criminalize criticism of Israel and Zionism, not to hold impartial hearings,” wrote Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada, in a petition addressed to Canadian Parliament members that has been signed by over 1,500 people.

“Therefore, we oppose the CPCCA as an ideologically biased organization with an agenda that will harm free speech and human rights activity in Canada. We oppose the CPCCA’s Orwellian distortion of anti-Semitism. It is a danger to both Canadian liberties and to the genuine and necessary fight against anti-Semitism,” IJV Canada wrote.

The CPCCA boasted that Parliamentarians and experts from over 40 countries gathered in Ottawa for what was “the largest ever international parliamentary gathering on anti-Semitism.”

“The recommendations made by participants during the Conference will be made available broadly and be used as the basis for further action to help put an end to the world’s oldest and most enduring form of discrimination,” the CPCCA website read.

It continued, “Anti-Semitism is an age-old phenomenon, yet it is always re-invented and manifested in different ways. For example, while accusations of blood libel are still being made against the Jewish people, instead they are being directed against the State of Israel, such that anti-Zionism is being used as a cover for anti-Semitism.”

Between November 2009 and January 2010, the CPCCA held ten separate hearings during which representatives of various non-governmental organizations, universities, police departments and Canadian political parties presented papers meant to assess the level of anti-Semitism in Canada.

Most of the speakers during the hearings equated legitimate criticism of Israel with this so-called “new” anti-Semitism and a particular focus was placed on Canadian university campuses, the supposed hotbeds of anti-Semitism.

Indeed, according to the CPCCA website, anti-Semitism “is especially prevalent on campuses where Jewish students are ridiculed and intimidated for any deemed support for the “Nazi” and “apartheid” State of Israel, which is claimed to have no right to exist. The problem is also exemplified by individuals and governments who call for the destruction of the State of Israel and its inhabitants.”

On Tuesday, November 24, 2009, however, in the fourth session of the hearings, Dr. Fred Lowy, President Emeritus of Concordia University in Montreal, stated that “by and large, Canadian campuses are safe and are not hotbeds of anti-Semitism of any kind.”

Still, representatives of B’Nai Brith Canada, the Canadian Jewish Congress, and other organizations across the country continued to talk about this “new” anti-Semitism, and often targeted the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as the prime example.

“Much of today’s anti-Semitism manifests in anti-Israel agitation around boycotts, divestment and sanctions,” said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of the Toronto-based Friends of the Simon Wisenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, during the November 30, 2009 hearing.

“It deploys an unfair double standard against the Jewish state, singling out of Israel alone for one-sided, harsh criticism and calls for punitive actions. Some of the criticism approaches open incitement that contributes to hatred of Israel, Judaism, and the Jewish people in the mainstream of society,” Benlolo said.

In recent years, Canadian policy has been increasingly pro-Israel in nature. In fact, Canadian politicians across the entire political spectrum have not shied away from declaring their support for Israel, despite ongoing illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2009/January 2010.

In February 2010, for example, Canada’s Junior Foreign Minister Peter Kent was quoted in Shalom Life magazine as saying that “an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada.”

A month earlier, Canada announced it would discontinue its financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the organization that provides support and resources like clothing, food and health services to approximately 4.7 million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Since it took power, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government has cut funding to many Canadian non-governmental organizations, many of had worked on issues related to Israel/Palestine in some way, or had spoken out against recent Israeli human rights abuses. These organizations, including Kairos Churches and Alternatives, had maintained relationships with the Canadian government for decades.

Right-wing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman even remarked in June 2009: “It’s hard to find a country friendlier to Israel than Canada these days.”

ndeed, according to Thomas Woodley, the President of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), the intent of the CPCCA hearings and conference is in line with Canada’s over-arching policy: to stifle criticism of Israeli policy and intimidate individuals and organizations working for Palestinian rights.

“The presence on ICCA’s steering committee of hardliner Israeli minister Yuli Edelstein—who not only opposes any moves to scale back the Occupation but also seeks to intensify Israeli presence in Palestinian territory— is indicative of ICCA’s orientation and underlying purpose,” Woodley said.

In a press release dated November 5, 2010, CJPME also outlined its disappointment that Canada’s Governor General David Johnston, the House of Commons (Parliament) and Senate Speakers, Official Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff and Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae all spoke at and lent “their names —and Canada’s— to a closed event orchestrated to shield Israel from criticism.”

“CJPME is firmly opposed to anti-Semitism, a historical problem of tragic proportions, and is concerned about a growing movement to conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.”

Jillian Kestler-D’Amours is a freelance writer and documentary filmmaker based in occupied East Jerusalem. More of her work can be found here.

link to standwithus.com noticing how the BDS movement is growing
StandWithUs is dedicated to act against this newest threat to Israel. This coming year, StandWithUs plans to tackle the assault with powerful messaging and campaigns.

Consider the inroads the boycott movement has already made this year.

Cultural Boycotts: Popular performers like Elvis Costello and the Pixies have canceled their scheduled concerts in Israel. As we write this, boycotters are actively lobbying other performers to cancel their tours. When Israeli musical groups travel abroad, they meet hostility, demonstrations, and aggressive efforts to cancel their performances.

Economic Boycotts: Economic boycott campaigns take two forms. One urges companies to stop doing business with Israel. Boycott activists typically call, write, and picket corporate offices with anti-Israel slogans, such as those accusing companies of aiding “Israeli baby killers.” Boycotters also attended this year’s annual meeting of TIAA-CREF, the largest retirement fund in the world, urging it to divest from companies that do business with Israel. Boycotters continue to urge Caterpillar Corporation management to stop selling products to Israel.

Union Boycotts: On June 20, anti-Israel demonstrators tried to prevent longshoremen in Oakland, California, from unloading an Israeli cargo ship. The Longshoremen’s Union Local 10 in San Francisco seriously considered an anti-Israel resolution, while some Belgian and Basque trade unions approved the boycotting of Israel.

Church Boycotts: This summer, the Presbyterian Church again debated resolutions to divest from companies doing business with Israel. Thankfully, the anti-Israel forces within the Presbyterian Church did not succeed. Divestment activists also constantly lobby other churches.

Political Boycotts: The boycott activists are working hard on all levels to undermine American support for Israel. They accuse pro-Israel lobbyists of controlling American foreign policy. They work to reduce or end loan guarantees and military aid to Israel. At the local level, a group of boycott activists is strategizing to put a divestment proposition on the upcoming California ballot. In Washington State, a similar bill (I-97) was introduced in 2008.

Travel/Diplomatic Boycotts: In European countries, boycott activists are charging Israeli officials with war crimes and having arrest warrants issued against them. Prominent Israeli officials, including Tzipi Livni, have canceled trips to the UK for fear of arrest.

Sports Boycotts: Israeli athletes have either been excluded from international competitions or forced to play their final matches without fans present because of “security concerns,” as happened during the Davis Cup finals in Sweden last year.

Academic Boycotts: Boycott activists have targeted university faculty unions around the world to prevent Israeli professors from participating in academic and scientific conferences, contributing to research journals, and acting as visiting professors. Last fall, a group of Ariel University students, one of ten finalist groups in an international competition to build energy-efficient housing, was suddenly expelled from the competition. In another incident, Israeli experts were suddenly uninvited from an international breast cancer research symposium in Cairo.
Boycotts on College Campuses:

Divestment Campaigns: Last spring, bills to divest from companies connected to Israel were suddenly introduced to the student governments at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego.

Boycotts of Pro-Israel Speakers: Anti-Israel activists have tried to portray pro-Israel speakers as so reprehensible they should not be allowed to lecture. Muslim Student Unions around the country are trying to use their own free speech rights to prevent the free speech of those they oppose. In February 2010, members of UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union orchestrated an effort to silence Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. After every few sentences of the ambassador’s speech, they shouted and jeered, drowning out his voice. A video of this incident that StandWithUs posted online was viewed by more than 700,000 people. Watch the video

The toxic boycott campaign threatens to embolden anti-Israel forces everywhere, especially on our college campuses. Students will continue to face a growing barrage of anti-Israel defamations on far too many campuses. Many will see displays that depict the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as inhumane brutes and that show the Israeli flag dripping with red paint to symbolize blood. They will hear Israel’s self-defense policies equated with the 20th century’s ugliest crimes, from Nazism to apartheid.
Current Member Organizations Of The BDS National Committee:

Groups Around The Globe That Are In Solidarity With The BDS Movement:
International Coordination Network for Palestinehttp://www.icnpalestine.net
Corporate Accountability:
Who Profits (Coalition of Women for Peace)
Corporate Watch

Australia:

* Australians for Peace
* Australians for Justice and Peace in Palestine

I’ve been very disappointed by the Canadian government’s slide toward American-style partiality when it comes to Israel, complete with “special relationship”-style comments and the usual pro-Israel propaganda.

B’nai Brith Canada is furious over a question on last week’s Grade 12 provincial language arts exam that it says could promote hatred of Israel.
Education Minister Nancy Allan said Tuesday that she shares the Jewish organization’s concern, and has told department of education staff to find out how the question got on the exam, and how “to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
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ARTICLES
Problem not Kreviazuk, but media: B’nai Brith
The question was part of an exam meant to assess students’ ability to read, digest, understand, and analyze written material.
The specific question used as the reading material an article written by Winnipeg singer Chantal Kreviazuk, in which she deplored the horrendous suffering of children in several armed conflicts — including children killed and maimed in the Gaza Strip by an artillery shell.
Accompanying the article in the exam was the following question: “Explain whether or not you think people in the entertainment industry have a responsibility for making the world a better place?”
B’nai Brith midwest region director Alan Yusim said Kreviazuk’s description of injured children will promote anti-Israel hatred among some of the students who wrote the test.”

Free speech just allows you to speak nonsense, denying the mass murder of Jews, Obama is a Muslim, Steven Harper is Tinker Bells father, etc. etc.. It doesn’t prevent me from yelling horse feathers at the top of my lungs to drown out your nonsense. Now if we were to debate any of the beliefs one can speak freely I’d be polite and follow usual rules of civilized exchange.

This will harm the Jews in the culturally insecure Quebec that goes through secessionist heat waves every few years; the proposed legislation will push the French-Canadian “reasonable accommodation” envelope to the limit as far as their tolerance of the Jews is concerned and it will only serve to make them dislike Jews even more and further alienate Quebec from Canada. Quebeckers still haven’t gotten over the accommodations they have had to make from the results of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission on Muslim and Jewish minority issues that had been put in motion when Hassidic Jews had insisted that the neighbourhood YWCA gym clouds its windows so that young Jewish lads wouldn’t see women in shorts.

This proposed legislation is intended to muzzle all criticism of Israel in Canada and most probably really in preparation of a growing BDS war that has the Zionists rattled. Canada has already stopped funding UNRWA and B’Tselem and a couple of WB orgs such as the one that sued Lev Leviev’s companies in the Quebec Superior Court for building on stolen Bi’lin land. It’s a shame Canada is on its way to spoiling its excellent reputation for the sake of a rogue state. LBP and PET are surely turning in their graves at what is happening in Canada.

… Hassidic Jews had insisted that the neighbourhood YWCA gym clouds its windows so that young Jewish lads wouldn’t see women in shorts.

LOL. If you give medieval lunatics an inch, they’ll take a mile. This reminds me of an incident I witnessed at Georgia Tech twenty years ago. A Christian preacher self-styled as ‘Brother Jim’ (his wife called herself Sister Cindy, go figure) entertained several dozen students every month or so with truly ham-handed fire and brimstone street sermons. He ceased to be amusing when a young woman walked by in shorts, probably on her way to class. BJ went ballistic when he saw she was wearing shorts (it gets hot in Atlanta) and followed her for, IIRC, fifteen yards or so shrieking SHORTS! quickly over and over again at the top of his lungs. She appeared frightened and hastened her pace.

Is it really ‘multi-cultural’ to let minority groups impose their values on the majority? Is it democratic? Shame on Canada for abandoning Western values of tolerance. Brother Jim and the Quebecer Hasids to whom you refer are no better than the Taliban.

This makes me think what a chore the American Jewish community is going to have on its hands when several million Israeli Jews end up here in the next several decades. Someone is going to have to introduce them to Western notions of tolerance. While I am fully in favor of open Israeli Jewish emigration from Israel to the United States for those without other citizenship, I don’t look forward to Israeli-style racist fascist political culture further corroding our all ready teetering civil society.

Colin it wasn’t just the Jews, there were also Muslims making assholes of themselves. It used to be immigrants were grateful to a host country for giving them an opportunity at a fresh start but now immigrants hit the ground running with a shopping list of demands. At about the time of the Y incident, a recently arrived group from North Africa was demanding the public school system to have separate swimming pools for their daughters and separate gym classes. Then they had the incidents with the Sikh families that did not want to do away with their sons’ wearing of the kirpan to school. The people had it up to their noses with these antics by the minorities and now with this new proposed muzzling law, it will drive Quebecers over the edge and make life miserable for the Jews. Western tolerance has its limits.

David Gelberman has thought of himself as a Liberal his whole life, but that has changed, he declares, because of the Prime Minister. “Thank God for Stephen Harper,” says Gelberman, 57, his eyes fixed on the television news from Israel.

At times my appalling country, least some of it’s politicians & business types, embarrass me. Hey I’ll never vote for a party that has Harper as a member but that’s me, eh and I refuse to buy books from Indigo/Chapters Canada’s sort of Amazon. Why the latter, assuming you’d know about Harper, because Heather Reisman, the CEO and champ of women’s rights in other places like Iran, refuses to stock Mein Kampf & Goebbels Diaries in her stores which is tantamount, to me, to harbouring a desire to engage in book burning. In regard to this latter point, Christopher Hitchens, in a debate at U of T, awhile back indicated he’d learned more from reading Goebbels about the 3rd Reich then all other books he read when at University. Who, but an authoritarian bordering on a true fascist, maybe Heather?, would deny and not promote the reading of such tracts – maybe not promote. Just wondering, eh.
A link to the Hitch reference – do hope he’s doing well thought I disagree with him more now -: link to bit.ly

Likely I should add that I’m currently reading Richard Evans book “Lying about Hitler” Evans was the expert historian witness for the defendant in the UK libel trial: David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt which, of course, had nothing to do with free speech.

don’t hate Heather. Uber-Zionist or not, she’s also friends with Izzeldin Abuelaish, I hear, who now lives in Toronto. And promoting his book which apparently changed her view of the occupation. Read her review her:

Its like that Indian saying, “After eating 900 rats the cat goes to pray.” The thing with people like Reisman is that they can hold two very contradictory thoughts in their heads without feeling the contradiction.

If Zionists have their way, Zionist fascism is coming to a Canadian university near you and it won’t be long after that before blogs are shut down by the thought police and people are paraded in front of judges. Don’t let them touch your rights; demand that your rights be respected as Palestinians are doing all over the West Bank and Gaza at the risk of imprisonment. Zionism is incompatible with democracy and its inherent rights and freedoms, and it’s now proving to be a threat to democracy everywhere.

What a dangerous precedent Canada is being led into! No other country in the world, except Israel, can manipulate world powers in an effort to keep its crime against humanity legitimate. I say delegitimize their crime once and for all and force Israel to start respecting International Law and human rights.

BDS IS the only answer and it must happen world-wide now! There is no other way but what worked in South Africa.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers seems primarily interested in two things.

Ensuring the rights and good working conditions of Canadian postal workers and cooperating on providing efficient postal service to Canadians aren’t either of them.

Fighting “Globalization” and inserting themselves into “liberation struggles” that have a remarkable tie-in to the interests of the Communist Party and the International Socialist movements seem to be their priorities.

CUPW, as readers of this blog will know, are co-sponsors of “The Sea Hitler” (the boat some Canadian Islamist and Communist groups want to send to interfere with Israel’s Gaza blockade) and have allied themselves with some of the most virulent anti-Israel bigots in Canada.

But now the radical leadership of CUPW may have crossed the line into sponsoring outright anti-Semitism.

CUPW is co-sponsor of a conference set to occur in Montreal for October 22-24 called “Montreal BDS Conference”. For those unfmiliar, BDS stands for “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” and these actions would be directed at Israel. The BDS movement is part of an ongoing campaign by Islamic and leftist radicals to try to deligitimize the middle east’s only genuine democracy.

Canadian Liberal Party and parliamentary Opposition leader Michael Ignatieff referred to this phenomenon, when discussing the odious effort called “Israel Apartheid Week” which is closely tied to the is “BDS” movement as a “global campaign of proclamations, boycotts and calls for divestment, which originated in the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. Like “Durban I,” IAW singles out one state, its citizens and its supporters for condemnation and exclusion, and it targets institutions and individuals because of what and who they are — Israeli and Jewish. [It] goes beyond reasonable criticism into demonization.”

One of the speakers that CUPW is proud to present at the BDS conference is Bongani Masuku, South African labor union COSATU International Affairs Secretary, who was found guilty by the South African government’s Human Rights Commission of anti-Semitic hate speech.

For information on Masuku, we have this from The Canada-Israel Committee’s website:

What precisely did Masuku say that got him into so much trouble? Here are a few examples:

“We want to convey a message to the Jews in South Africa that our 1.9-million workers who are affiliated to COSATU are fully behind the people of Palestine… Any business owned by Israel supporters will be a target of workers in South Africa” [Source: Address at COSATU-Palestinian Solidarity Committee rally in Raedene, 6 February 2009].

“COSATU is with you, we will do everything to make sure that whether it’s at Wits University, whether its at Orange Grove, anyone who does not support equality and dignity, who does not support the rights of other people must face the consequences even if it means that we will do something that may necessarily cause what is regarded as harm …” [Source: Address at public meeting on Wits University Campus, 5 March 2009]

The implications of Masuku’s statements were as clear as day, at least according to the South African Human Rights Commission:

In its findings, the SAHRC found that Mr. Masuku “surely intended to incite violence and hatred that was already potentially imminent amongst these two groups.”. The Commission also noted that other comments by Mr. Masuku were “intimidating and threatening” and noted that other comments made by Mr. Masuku could only mean that “unless South Africans agree with his views they should be forced to leave South Africa.”

In sum the SAHRC stated that “the comments and statements are of an extreme nature that advocate and imply that the Jewish and Israeli community are to be despised, scorned and ridiculed and thus subjecting them to ill-treatment on the basis of their religious affiliation. A prima facie case of hate speech is clearly established.”

By sponsoring Masuku, an advocate of “violent liberation struggle” (read: “terrorism’) CUPW is providing yet another example that bears out the truth of Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s assessment:, “so much of the criticism Israel faces is motivated by a dangerous form of anti-Semitism that tries to hide behind anti-Zionism and is represented by a coalition of the far left in the West with extreme currents of jihadi Islam that seek the destruction of the Jewish nation. They seem to believe that the Jewish people are the only people in the world that don’t have a right to a homeland.”

The vocal anti-Semite Masuku is the sort of individual that Denis Lemelin, President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, as a speaker and sponsor of this conference, is willing to be associated with. CUPW leadership and their descent into anti-Semitism is a disgrace and an embarrassment to its membership. They should be held responsible and called out for their bigotry.

He displays the characteristic of politicians that annoy me most – blatant hypocrisy. Apparently he sees himself as a freedom fighter for human rights. And supports Israel unwaveringly, in all it does.

What is Harper going to do when the cardinals and bishops in Canada pronounce themselves on the issue of Israeli injustice and human rights violations against Palestinians as some other bishops have? Is he going to treat them like criminals too on behalf of Israel and his Zionist friends?

Interesting question. Harper will get full support from his evangelical Christian (and Zionist) voters stacked up in the Western provinces, but things are not looking good when it comes to the Catholic/French province in the East. Neither the bishops nor the Bloc Quebecois are big fans of Israel or Harpers pro-Israel campaign. Potent mix of politics and religion along the traditional Canadian fault lines

At the CPCCA website you will find the two MPs who supposedly started this and then you would find the real brain child;

Monica Kugelmass; the Director of the project.

She was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She holds an honors degree in political science from the University of Western Ontario, and recently completed a Masters degree in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While at Western, she became involved in organizations such as the Israel Action Committee and STAND. Monica was also President of Amnesty International on campus where she focused her time on human rights issues in the Middle East. More recently, Monica was a research assistant at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, working with international human rights lawyer Justus Reid Weiner. Monica is the first Canadian Legacy Heritage Fellow, and is working as a Middle East policy advisor at the office of the Honorable Irwin Cotler MP, official opposition critic for Human Rights.

The Associate Director for the Project is Rachel Levy;

Canada is so small, to hijack its ideology and is not as complex as the US. In this case it only took two fairly bright woman to manipulate the political system, not a tough job.

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